A former Wagga resident is changing the narrative of Australian children's writing by tackling the lack of regional representation in stories.
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Maree Fenton-Smith recently published her second pre-teen novel, My Unfortunate Past, which pays homage to her experiences growing up in the Riverina.
The mother-of-four has resided in Sydney for quite some time, but the noticeable absence of country settings across children's writing has encouraged her to break the mould.
Mrs Fenton-Smith said she first began noticing a lack of relatability for regional children during her early years as a reader.
"Growing up, I loved reading, but there weren't a lot of books that I could really associate with," she said.
"I think, as a kid, it's kind of great when you can read something and it's about something that you know and a setting that you can picture.
"That's why I set My Unfortunate Past in regional NSW."
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My Unfortunate Past is the companion novel of Creatures of Magic, and follows a kidnapped girl named Violet as she attempts to solve the mysteries of her past.
Mrs Fenton-Smith said her novel takes place in a house she remembered visiting as a child in Manilla, just outside Tamworth, and uses imagery from her childhood in the Riverina during the drought to bring the story to life.
"There are lots of images in the book that I've seen that have struck me as poignant, like seeing a dam that has the footprints in it of lots of cattle that aren't there anymore as they've all been sold," she said.
"The trees, the emptiness of some of the cleared farming land, and all the gates.
"Because something I really remember is going to visit family and friends that lived on properties, there just always seem to be a lot of gates that you have to get out and open."
Mrs Fenton-Smith has also found that her writing helps communicate the different upbringing she had to her children who were raised outside of the regions.
"I was kind of in a way writing it for them, they were my target audience, and so each chapter I'd write they would read as our bedtime story," she said.
"My two youngest gave me lots of feedback about My Unfortunate Past as I was writing, which I incorporated into the book, and they're really good critics, or pretty harsh critics sometimes."
A public servant by trade, Mrs Fenton-Smith always dreamt of being a writer and thinks of it as a creative outlet.
"That's what I find really attractive about writing, it's nice having a universe you're essentially in control of," she said.
My Unfortunate Past can be purchased from Bottlebrush Books
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